Ohio Enacts Landmark Farmed Animal Welfare Standards

Thanks to the unwavering efforts of thousands of Mercy For Animals supporters and other compassionate Ohioans, who have spent the past couple of years tirelessly speaking up on behalf of animals, the state of Ohio has given final approval to enact a wide-ranging set of farmed animal welfare reforms as part of an agreement reached last year between animal welfare advocates and the animal agriculture industry.

Marking the most comprehensive set of farmed animal welfare reforms ever enacted by any state at one time, the Ohio Livestock Standards Board has agreed to:

• phase out gestation crates for mother pigs
• phase out veal crates for baby calves
• place a moratorium on the construction of new battery-cage confinement facilities for laying hens
• ban the transport of downer cows for slaughter
• enact regulations regarding the manner in which sick and injured farmed animals can be killed, including a ban on strangulation

Taking the original agreement one step further, the Livestock Board has also decided to ban the practice of tail-docking dairy cows and has addressed welfare standards for species not covered by the agreement.

While these reforms set a new bar for animal welfare in the United States, there is still a lot of work to be done. The best way for individuals to help end the needless suffering of farmed animals is simply not to eat them. Adopting a healthy and humane vegan lifestyle is the single most powerful choice one can make to withdraw one’s support from a system that treats animals like commodities. Visit ChooseVeg.com to learn more.